Unlikely Pairing: Def Leppard and Taylor Swift

Country Starlet & Established Rockers Team for CMT Crossroads Show

Nov 10, 2008 Lisa L. Rollins

Award-winning country newcomer Taylor Swift harmonizes with British rock band Def Leppard for a genre-merging live concert that airs on CMT in November.

When the members of rock group Def Leppard were first asked to tape a TV-concert series with country newcomer Taylor Swift, they had no idea who she was.

The 18-year-old Swift, on the other hand, knew exactly who the British rockers were, because their music was an indelible part of her childhood, thanks to mom Andrea, a longtime Def Leppard fan, who shared the band's hits-turned-classics, such as Photograph and Pour Some Sugar on Me, with Swift as she was growing up.

New Country Singer Grew up Listening to British Rockers

Def Leppard—which comprises lead-singer Joe Elliott, bassist Rick Savage, guitarists Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell, and drummer Rick Allen—was Swift's No. 1 choice to join her for a live taping of CMT Crossroads, a network-cable program that teams a country artist—in this case, the Academy of Country Music's "Top New Female Vocalist" for 2008—with an artist from another genre.

Although Def Leppard's lineup has long boasted a top-notch producer in Robert "Mutt" Lange, who's had his share of country-music success, including with the career of his former wife, country superstar Shania Twain, the rockers themselves never went out of their way to investigate the country genre, even though they maintained a musical respect for it from afar.

Def Leppard Players Make CMT Crossroads Debut

Nevertheless, once they learned about Swift's desire to perform their music, and likewise, have them join her to perform hers on the Country Music Television program, they jumped at the chance, vocalist Elliott has said.

The two acts merged their respective country and rock styles on Oct. 6, 2008, during an invitation-only taping of Crossroads at Nashville's Acuff Theater, where they performed one another's hits. Swift's band, along with the Def Leppard musicians, performed behind singers Swift and Elliott throughout much of the taping, which will be broadcast on several dates during November.

"It's brilliant," Elliott told CMT News, referring to the concept of the Crossroads series. "I've always loved the idea. Once you've established yourself as an artist, you need to stretch. And part of stretching is going places that other people don't think you should. It's like a fence that says, 'Do not climb over.' You have to look to see why not. To do any kind of spillover ... into whatever kind of music, it's curiosity. Sometimes it's not going to work. Sometimes it is ... and this has been jelling real tight. It's a lot of fun."

Swift Gets her Rock-Music Pick for Country Music Concert

As for singer-songwriter Swift, the young country artist was simply thrilled the rock stars said "yes" to her Crossroads invitation—never mind that vocalist Elliott wasn't familiar with her country hits, such as Picture to Burn, Teardrops on My Guitar or her breakthrough hit of 2006, Tim McGraw. The thing that floored the Pennsylvania-born songstress, she has noted, was that Elliott told her she could sing any of the lyrics to Photograph that she chose for the CMT show.

"The harmonies that they do on their songs are perfect for my range," she told CMT News. "When we initially started talking about it, I told (Elliott) my favorite lines from my favorite songs. And he said, 'You can sing all of them.Whatever you want to sing, you can sing it.' I was like a kid in a candy store! I was like, 'You mean I can sing the first line of Photograph? ..."

Elliott has shared that considering he's sung the classic-rock song for about 25 years, letting Swift have a turn at singing one of the band's signature tunes for one night was an easy concession. Said the blond frontman: "I've been doing it for 25 years. I can take the night off, trust me."

The CMT Crossroads episode featuring Swift and Def Leppard debuted on Country Music Television at 9 p.m. Nov. 7, 2008, but will be re-broadcast at 11 p.m. Nov. 10; at 3 and 9 p.m. Nov. 11; at 4 p.m. Nov. 14; and at 10 p.m. on Nov. 16. All times are Eastern/Pacific.

Def Leppard Not Brand-New to Country Music Collaboration

The Swift/Def Leppard pairing isn't the rock act's first foray into country-music territory, though. Earlier this year, the band worked with country favorite Tim McGraw on a song called Nine Lives, which is included on his newly released Greatest Hits 3 recording and the band's latest CD and 10th studio album, Songs from The Sparkle Lounge.

Guitarist Collen has called the genre-crossing collaboration with Louisiana native McGraw "a very natural thing," especially given the fact that Def Leppard's drummer and the country singer's tour manager are brothers. During a recent interview, however, Collen didn't hesitate to mention that the rockers "never really want to be constantly looking for other artists" to undertake projects with.

Instead, the tried 'n' true rock stars prefer a simpler approach. "We just let it fall naturally," Collen has said. "We're not really on the lookout to work with anyone else."

Sources

Shelburne, Craig. New Episode of CMT Crossroads Debuts Friday, Nov. 7, CMT News.

Shelburne, Craig. How Def Leppard Discovered Country Music and Taylor Swift, Nov. 5, 2008, CMT News. Accessed at www.cmtnews.com

Taylor Swift, Wikipedia entry. Accessed Nov. 9, 2008.

The copyright of the article Unlikely Pairing: Def Leppard and Taylor Swift in Country Music is owned by Lisa L. Rollins. Permission to republish Unlikely Pairing: Def Leppard and Taylor Swift in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.