As a host of musicians, including Jack White, Ke$ha, Taylor Swift, Kings of Leon, Tim McGraw, and numerous others, prepare to aid the flood-stricken “Music City” of Nashville, TN via benefit concerts, donations, Third Man Records proceeds, and charity singles, Franklin, Tennessee’s own Ben Folds is also contributing to the cause with his own amateur photojournalism. In fact, Folds began taking pictures of the disaster — which took 30 lives and may reportedly lead to the most expensive cleanup in U.S. history — because he feels the mainstream media failed to properly cover the event.
“As far as I know the national media was busy with their agendas of the moment and as is the case these days, was not able or willing to mobilize for real news,” Folds writes in a caption on his National Geographic slide show. He adds:
I’m sure if there was a political reason or agenda that suited the companies who run these major national outlets, we’d have been inundated in moments… I have no real faith or respect for mainstream news. Local news has of course been on it and in the frontline of charity and support.
Check out more captions and Blackberry photos from Folds here (he has film to be developed later, as well). Meanwhile, you can make donations toward the cleanup effort or volunteer to help here.