48th annual Western Heritage Awards honors portrait book on rural life

→What: Awards that honor outstanding music, literature, film and television of 2008.

→Where: National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63.

→Tickets: Jingle Jangle Mingle, 5:30 to 7:30 tonight, $25; awards banquet, 6 p.m. Saturday, $150 for nonmembers and $130 for members.

→Information and reservations: 478-2250, ext. 219.

"It looks like I’m drunk or something,” Mock said. "My wife and everybody got a big chuckle out of it.”

Mock, who’s name is incorrectly listed in the book as "Brett Moor,” said he figures photographer Paul Mobley was probably "looking for a certain look.” Mock, who runs a few cows and horses on his 1,000 acres and owns a western store, thinks his photo is "not a very good cowboy picture."

But he added, "I’m not an artist. He (Mobley) was looking for a certain look.”

Overall, Mock, one of three Oklahomans in "American Farmer,” was impressed with the book, which he said depicted "the whole gauntlet of rural life.”

"He done a good job on what he was looking for,” he said. "The book is really neat.”

David Zizzo, STAFF WRITER