I’m jealous of quite a few people. My friend Luther, for instance, is a talented multi-instrumentalist who actually gets paid to play and write about music, my dad can build or understand just about anything and there’s a guy down the street who owns his own toy store. Everywhere I look there’s someone to envy and last week that list got a little longer with the birth of Jenny Omnichord’s baby boy, Otis.

You see, on the day of his birth little baby Otis was greeted by an entire album of duets made in his honour. I’m talking about Jenny Omnichord’s wonderfully titled Charlotte or Otis: Duets for Children, Their Parents and Other People Too.  Consisting of 18 children-themed duets with some of Canada’s best songwriters, this album delivers (pardon the pun) in a big way.  It features such WHK favourites as Wax Mannequin, Mathias Kom, Andrew Penner, Geordie Gordon, Andy Swan, Old Man Luedecke…hell, the entire thing is worth mentioning so I’ll stop there.

Unfortunately, the bulk of attention this release has received so far stemmed from Win Butler’s potential contribution. Long story short, it appears that bureaucratic red-tape killed that duet. If you ask me, it doesn’t affect the final product in any way, as one listen to “Dinky (A Baby Boy’s Discovery)” with David Celia makes me forget who that Butler guy is.

There’s too much good stuff on Charlotte or Otis to get into it all, but here are a few of my favourite moments:

- Andy Swan’s mature and reticent portrayal of a child as he explains his affliction to “Doctor Jenny” on “I Sneeze in Threes” (not to mention the guest appearances in that tune).

- Jenny’s rap stylings on “The Old Prince” with Shad.

- The idea that Otis (played by Tony Dekker) knows karate, which explains all the belly-kicking (“Do You Know Karate?”)

I don’t have children and won’t for a while, but that doesn’t stop me from enjoying Charlotte or Otis in the least (something I don’t think you’ll hear many non-parents saying about Barenaked Ladies’ Snacktime ). In fact, it’s clear that this album isn’t simply something to entertain newborns, but a collection that Otis himself can appreciate when he’s older and understand the effort his mother and father undertook to properly greet him.

Most of us just got a hard smack on the ass from the doctor when we were born, but little Otis gets a custom made album of endearing duets. Add that to the fact that he’s being welcomed into the world by one of the most excited and unique mothers I’ve ever met and I’ve really got an axe to grind with this kid.

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Here’s one of my favourite duets:

Jenny Omnichord - The Day We Sang “Ba Ba Ba Ba” (with Jeff “Glacio de Fluvial” Munro)

And be sure to check out the Sappyfest footage of Jenny and Mathias perforing “What Happens to Animals,” as it was a hilarious moment.

Grab a digital copy of Charlotte or Otis here.