Jon Weems came in second in our Christmas song contest.

Courtesy photo

About Jon Weems

• Second place, 353 votes: Jon Weems, “Heaven’s Gift”
• Age: 40
• Home: Hardy
• Job: Program Assistant at The Phoenix Star Clubhouse in Roanoke, where he helps people with brain injuries.
• Family: Single
• Web: jonweems.hostrack.com/

Listen to "Heaven's Gift"

Chris Henson came in third place in our Christmas song contest.

Courtesy photo

About Chris Henson

• Third place, 308 votes: Chris Henson, “Bah Humbug Blues”
• Age: 44
• Home: Roanoke
• Job: Owner of Media Frenzy
• Family: Married to Connie Stevens Henson (of WVTF Public Radio); daughter Charley, age 9
• Web: www.mediafrenzy.ws

Listen to "Bah Humbug Blues"

Meet the winner of our Christmas song contest.

SECOND PLACE

Christmas is about God’s gift

Jon Weems’ life shows that a devastating accident doesn’t end creativity.

In 1992, he tried to thread his body through an inner tube as he dived into a backyard swimming pool. He said his head didn’t go through the tube cleanly, and his injuries left him mostly paralyzed from the neck down.

Weems, then 25, had been playing music for some 20 years. He resolved to continue, and took to writing music.

He learned to use typing sticks on a synthesized keyboard because his fingers won’t move, and an electronic music sequencer helps him string all the parts of a song together. He sings over the tracks he creates.

“I’ve been playing most of my life, and after my diving accident, I just had these ideas for songs and tunes in my head,” he said. “So that’s when I purchased that keyboard. … God’s given me a way to continue to do something I love, and I’m just thankful.”

His entry in The Roanoke Times Christmas song contest, “Heaven’s Gift,” is one of about 20 songs he has written.

He says it’s one of his best.

“People really seem to like this one,” Weems said. “I’m really proud of the meaning of this, and what it stands for.”

Weems’ lyrics say that the season is about more than gifts and shopping.

“On this day a king was born/Who’d someday wear a crown of thorns.”

He has twice performed it in church and once for this year’s “Sounds of the Season” on WDBJ Channel 7.

The song also features a section with Weems’ niece, Heather Armstrong, on vocals. Armstrong, 24, of Vinton, is finishing a master’s degree in occupational therapy from Virginia Commonwealth University, Weems said.

Adding Armstrong was a musical hunch, he added.

“For some reason, I just felt there needed to be a female voice,” he said.

THIRD PLACE

'Blues’ puts twist on Dickens

So, Chris Henson didn’t win the Christmas song contest. But he’d get the prize for creative self-promotion — if we had one to give.

Henson, who owns a small advertising firm in Roanoke, sang and played all the instruments — including guitar, bass and keyboard — when he recorded the song in his attic. After we posted all the tunes online, he started sending out e-mails to friends and associates, soliciting votes.

“As you may have noticed, People Magazine passed me up again this year for 'Sexiest Man in the World,’ ” Henson wrote. “Matt Damon won. Apparently 'looks’ were a key issue. Also, 'sexiness.’

“So, I’m pinning all my hopes and dreams on The Roanoke Times Christmas songwriting contest.”

Henson, who minored in music composition at Virginia Tech, used to play guitar in several jazz groups around Roanoke and Blacksburg, performing at some weddings and eating for free, he noted in an e-mail. These days, he uses his musical skills for his company, Media Frenzy. But he wrote and recorded “Bah Humbug Blues” just for the contest.