On June 16, Def Leppard found itself in one of the most unlikely settings one could have ever considered for a group that came out of England in the late 1970s with a sound influenced by early '70s glam rockers like T. Rex, David Essex and Thin Lizzy.

The band was at the CMT Music Awards performing alongside the likes of country stars Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts and Sugarland. The group was there because of its CMT "Crossroads" special with country sensation Taylor Swift, an event that earned Def Leppard and Swift nominations for two awards. Their performance of the Def Leppard song "Photograph" was nominated for CMT Performance of the Year and for Wide Open Country Video of the Year. A DVD of the "Crossroads" performance has just been released.

To say the least, Def Leppard -- appearing Tuesday at USANA Amphitheatre in West Valley City with Poison and Cheap Trick -- was caught off guard by its nominations, according to guitarist Phil Collen. And even though the band lost out on the awards, it was still honored to be nominated.

"I think it's outrageous. I actually thought they had made a mistake," Collen said in interview about a week before the awards. "It's a really lovely, lovely surprise, actually."

The "Crossroads" special actually wasn't the first time Def Leppard, which also includes guitarist Vivian Campbell, singer Joe Elliott, bassist Rick Savage and drummer Rick Allen, had dipped its collective toes into the country realm. The band's 2008 CD, "Songs From the Sparkle Lounge," included a collaboration with country superstar Tim McGraw on the song "Nine Lives."

The band had met McGraw on tour in 2006 at its concert at the Hollywood Bowl. McGraw came out to sing on the band's hit, "Pour Some Sugar on Me." The group had kept in touch with the country star from that point forward, and with "Nine Lives," felt it had a song that was right for the collaboration.

Still, there were no plans for further activities in country music, Collen said, before the opportunity to do "Crossroads" with Swift was presented to the band. The group, before then, had read that Swift was a fan of Def Leppard, and in an article she was asked who she would want to do a "Crossroads" episode with if she had the opportunity. She named Def Leppard.

Collen admitted that the group didn't know much about Swift, the 19-year-old star who was the best-selling artist of 2008 and has sold more than 6 million copies of her two CDs. But when the group learned more about her background, the idea of performing with Swift made sense.

"I think what was really interesting to us was the fact that she was a Def Leppard fan and she'd gotten into country via Shania Twain," Collen said. "There was a complete connection there because obviously all the Shania songs were co-written by 'Mutt,' 'Mutt' Lange."

Robert John "Mutt" Lange, of course, was the producer who played a huge role in helping Def Leppard become one of rock's biggest bands of the 1980s with his meticulous and pristine production of the hooky hard rock that populated 1983 album "Pyromania" and the 1987 release, "Hysteria."

Powered by hits such as "Foolin' " and "Photograph," "Pyromania" initially sold some 7 million copies and has since gone on to top 10 million copies shifted. "Hysteria" was even more successful. With hits such as "Animal" and "Pour Some Sugar on Me," sales of that CD eventually topped 15 million and for a time made Def Leppard the most popular hard rock band on the planet.

As Def Leppard learned several Swift songs for the "Crossroads" show, it quickly became apparent that she shared some common musical ground with the band.

"When we actually went to rehearse Taylor's songs, we were going, 'Hang on a minute, this chord progression is very familiar, these chords are the same, the melodies are kind of [in that vein],' " Collen said. "So the influence was coming full circle. It was actually kind of a bit weird at one point, but you could see clearly where this stuff was coming from. She was a Def Leppard fan and she had gotten into music, country music, via Shania Twain."

Collen said in working with Taylor, Def Leppard came away impressed by her talents and potential.

"She has great ideas, great melodies and great songs, and I think the more life experience she gets, the better these songs are going to get, and deeper and all of that stuff," Collen said. "So the potential there is absolutely phenomenal. It's kind of cool to see that. She's so innocent about it. She's not even aware of some of it."

The success of the "Crossroads" special may have exposed Def Leppard to a whole new audience. But that doesn't mean the band is thinking its future is in the country market.

"People have said, 'Are you going to do a country album?' And it's, like, 'No, we're definitely not going to do that,' " Collen said.

In fact, Def Leppard's current focus is on the re-releases of "Pyromania" and the 1992 CD, "Adrenalize," which was the group's third straight blockbuster album.

Both albums are getting the deluxe two-CD re-release treatment, with the new versions of the CDs having arrived June 23. "Pyromania" features the original album plus a 15-song concert from 1983 at the Forum in Los Angeles.

"Adrenalize," meanwhile, features the original album plus a disc of previously unreleased live, acoustic and demo versions of songs.

The 1983 concert included with "Pyromania" is notable because it's the first time the group has officially released a live CD. Collen hinted there may be more where that came from.

"We recorded tons of stuff over the years," he said. "We were waiting for an opportune time. With [sales of] records dwindling and people having less motivation to buy stuff like that, it seems like if we don't start putting some of this stuff out now, it will get missed completely. This was the perfect opportunity. It's like here we go, we've got 'Pyromania' re-releasing and we've got a live 'Pyromania' tour thing that we've kind of had in our vaults. It was a no-brainer really."

Collen actually joined Def Leppard several months after the recording of "Pyromania" had begun. He replaced guitarist Pete Willis. Collen has fond memories of the project.

"Funny enough, I had been down to a couple of sessions of the album with the guys beforehand anyway," he said. "When I got to play on the stuff, it was great, like [they said], 'Just play some solos. Literally, have some fun with it. Just be a lead guitar player and do whatever you want.' I had never heard anything like it, because these songs had quite a lot of depth, like 'Billy's Got a Gun,' 'Die Hard the Hunter,' stuff like that. Even songs like 'Stage Fright' had a sound to them, 'Photograph,' which had all the elements of a rock song, but it was also a pop song -- it was really crossing over. It was just exciting to be involved in that and actually be brought in and told, 'OK, have some fun with it.' It was perfect."

"Adrenalize" was not such a fun experience. In 1991, guitarist Steve Clark died after a long history of drug and alcohol abuse during the period in which the album was recorded. And the actual recording was a labored and long process.

"I remember spending hours and hours, re-doing the guitars three times on that record," Collen said. "We really spent too much time and everything. But we obviously were pleased with the way it came out."

Def Leppard

When: Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Where: USANA Amphitheatre, 5400 S. 6200 West, West Valley City

Also on the bill: Poison, Cheap Trick

Tickets: $28.75-$129, available at Smith's Tix locations (800-888-TIXX, www.smithstix.com)

Info: www.usana-amp.com