"Break Down Here" is the debut single from country music singer Julie Roberts

Julie Roberts

Julie Roberts is an American country music singer. Signed to Mercury Nashville in 2004, Roberts made her debut that year with the single "Break Down Here", a Top 20 hit on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts and the first track from her self-titled debut album...

. The single is the lead-off to her self-titled debut album

Julie Roberts (album)

-Personnel:As listed in liner notes.*Eric Darken – percussion on "Just 'Cause We Can" and "No Way Out"*Shannon Forrest – drums*Vince Gill – background vocals on "Unlove Me" and "The Chance"...

 that was released on May 24, 2004, via Mercury Nashville

Universal Music Group Nashville

Universal Music Group Nashville is Universal Music Group's country music subsidiary. Some of the labels in this group include MCA Nashville Records, Mercury Nashville Records, and Lost Highway Records...

. The song debuted in February 2004 and peaked at number 18 on the country music charts. Its b-side was a cover of Suzy Bogguss

Suzy Bogguss

Susan Kay "Suzy" Bogguss is an American country music singer. In the 1980s and 90s she released one platinum and three gold albums and charted six top ten singles, winning the Academy of Country Music's award for Top New Female Vocalist and the Country Music Association's Horizon Award.After...

's "No Way Out".

The song was originally recorded as "I'd Sure Hate to Break Down Here" by country singer Trace Adkins

Trace Adkins

Tracy Darrell "Trace" Adkins is an American country music artist. He made his debut in 1996 with the album Dreamin' Out Loud, released on Capitol Records Nashville. Since then, Adkins has released seven more studio albums and two Greatest Hits compilations...

 on his 2003 album Comin' On Strong

Comin' on Strong

-Personnel:As listed in liner notes.*Mike Brignardello – bass guitar*Trey Bruce – percussion, programming*Pat Buchanan – electric guitar, harmonica*Lisa Cochran – background vocals*J.T...

. However, his version of the song was not released as a single.

Content

"Break Down Here" is a mid-tempo ballad centralizing on the narrator, who is driving a car by herself on the freeway, escaping a failed relationship with all of her belongings in the back of the car. Realizing that her car is beginning to make a noise and that she is far from an exit, she states that she would "sure hate to break down here". The phrase has a double meaning, in that she does not want the car to break down, and she does not want to break down and cry ("I've made it this far without crying a single tear").

Critical reception

Kelefa Sanneh of The New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

described the song favorably, calling it "one of the year's best country ballads" and "an aching but resolute lament".

Personnel

The following musicians performed on this track:

• Shannon Forrest – drums
• David Hungate
  David Hungate
  David Hungate is a bass player noted as a member of Los Angeles pop-rock band Toto from 1977-1982. Boz Scaggs's Silk Degrees album of 1976 included Hungate and several other future members of Toto...
  
   – bass guitar
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  
• Tim Lauer – pump organ
• Pat McLaughlin
  Pat McLaughlin
  Pat McLaughlin is a singer/songwriter based in Nashville, TN.He was raised in Waterloo, Iowa, but moved to San Francisco, California in the early 1970s. There McLaughlin began to write songs, playing alone at open mic nights and in the streets near the bay. After a brief stint in Boston, he moved...
  
   – background vocals
• Gordon Mote – keyboards
  Keyboard instrument
  A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
  
  
• Brent Rowan – electric guitar
  Electric guitar
  An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
  
  
• Bryan Sutton
  Bryan Sutton
  Bryan Sutton is an American musician. Primarily known as a flatpicked acoustic guitar player, Sutton also plays many other instruments including mandolin, banjo, and electric guitar....
  
   – acoustic guitar
  Acoustic guitar
  An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
  
  , mandocello
  Mandocello
  The mandocello is a plucked string instrument of the mandolin family. It has eight strings in four paired courses, tuned in 5ths like a mandolin, but is larger, and tuned CC-GG-dd-aa . It is to the mandolin what the cello is to the violin.-Construction:Mandocello construction is similar to the...
  
  

Chart performance

"Break Down Here" spent a total of 32 weeks on the country charts, peaking at 18 in September 2004. It is Robert's only Top 40 hit on that chart. The song also debuted at number one on the Country Singles Sales chart, making her the first female artist to debut at the top of that chart since LeAnn Rimes

LeAnn Rimes

LeAnn Rimes is an American country/pop singer. She is known for her rich vocals and her rise to fame as an eight-year-old champion on the original Ed McMahon version of Star Search, followed by the release of the Patsy Cline-intended single "Blue" when Rimes was only age 13, resulting in her...

in 2000. > >

Chart (2004)	Peak position