Don’t Do Me Like That: A Tribute to Tom Petty featuring a who’s who of local musicians. Thursday January 7th at 7PM at the Iron Horse

The early January tribute night at the Iron Horse is in its fifth year. Previous subjects of local interpretation include The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, and Johnny Cash. Before settling into its January home, there were tributes to Neil Young and Gram Parsons. (I’m lobbying for Joni Mitchell in 2011!)

Tom Petty goes to work in a Van Nuys warehouse next to an auto shop and an upholsterer. His band the Heartbreakers rehearses there, still looking for ways to improve after more than 30 years together. Mr. Petty rivals other acts who’ve lasted and remained relevant for decades, like Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young. He's sold some 60 million albums, is ubiquitous on classic rock stations, and has collaborated with music legends from Bob Dylan to George Harrison. Last year, he played the Super Bowl and much of the nation knew every chorus. Whether he belongs as one of the faces on rock’s Mount Rushmore is still the subject of colorful barroom debates but with the assumption that he does, The Valley’s finest local musicians will pay tribute to Mr. Petty with a set-list drawn from the 70s to the present. Maybe even a Mudcrutch or Travelling Wilbury’s song.

Whether the night’s title track, Don’t Do Me Like That, will be performed is up to Jim Armenti, Ray Mason, F. Alex Johnson, Rocky Roberts, Jason Bourgeois, Ryan Quinn, Golden Bloom, Orange Crush, Matthew Carefully, Henning Ohlenbusch, Brian Akey, Sitting Next to Brian, Thane Thomsen (The Figments), The Fawns, Group Deville, Rusty Belle, SwillMerchants, Levin Schwartz of the Amity Front, Spouse, National Carpet, Frank Manzi , Ben Demerath, Erik Alan (The Amity Front), Fancy Trash, The Grownup Noise, Bob Hennessy and Carrie Olson.

Each artist will perform a Petty song but they also have the option of doing an original. This means not only is the night a Petty-fest but a Whitman’s sampler of local talent; a chance to get a taste of some of the Valley’s best musicians in one sitting…minus the stomach ache.

Tickets are available at the Northampton Box Office, 413-586-8686. Online at IHEG.com