Emmylou Harris’ ‘Hard Bargain’ Debuts at No. 3 on Country Chart

Emmylou Harris scores the week's highest debut on Billboard's country album chart as her 'Hard Bargain' lands at No. 3, just behind last week's No. 1 disc, Alison Krauss and Union Station's 'Paper Airplane' and Jason Aldean's 'My Kinda Party,' which returns to No. 1.

While Emmylou's last three albums, 'All I Intended to Be,' 'Stumble Into Grace' and 'Red Dirt Girl' all reached the Top 10 on the country chart, this week marks the best showing for one of the singer-songwriter's solo albums since her 1980 bluegrass disc, 'Roses in the Snow,' which reached No. 2. 'Hard Bargain' also debuts at No. 18 on the Billboard 200.

It was a stellar week for other album releases in the Americana genre, as Steve Earle debuts at No. 4 with 'I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive,' his first album of all-new material since 2007's Grammy-winning 'Washington Square Serenade.' The new album comes at the same time as the singer-songwriter releases his first novel, also called 'I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive.' It's the fictional tale of a doctor haunted by the ghost of his former patient, Hank Williams, the writer of the song from which the novel takes its name.

While it wasn't exactly a blockbuster sales week for other country artists -- sales across the board were down considerably, compared to last week -- one other new disc makes its debut within the Top 30. 'Firewater,' by Texas-based band Whiskey Myers, comes in at No. 26. The band's sophomore disc also lands at No. 3 on the Top New Albums chart.