Rainn Wilson’s Celebrity Music Playlist

Rainn Wilson, born January 20, 1966 is an American actor and comedian. He is primarily known for his role as the egomaniacal Dwight Schrute on the American version of the television comedy The Office. He has also directed two episodes of The Office: the sixth season’s “The Cover-Up” and the seventh season’s “Classy Christmas”.

In addition to his starring role on The Office, Wilson has appeared in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, CSI, NUMB3RS, and Entourage, in the latter portraying a sleazy entertainment journalist based on Harry Knowles of Ain’t It Cool News. On February 24, 2007, Wilson hosted Saturday Night Live, becoming the second cast member from The Office to host (after Steve Carell). Wilson has made a guest appearance in two episodes of the Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim-bloc series Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job. Wilson has also appeared on Reno 911.

Celebrity Tunes presents Rainn Wilson’s music playlist and his personal comments about each song.

"To the Dogs or Whoever" (Track 1): “Ok, seriously. How is this guy not a national treasure?. The best post-Dylan-esque, poet, folky rocker EVER! Impossible to pick just one song. My son and I sing the first line together, ‘deep in the belly of the whale I found her / down with the deep blue jail around her/ running her hands through the ribs of the dark, Florence and Calamity and Joan of Arc/ I love the way she looks in her underwear.’ Poetry, dude.”
"Let the Distance Keep Us Together" (Track 2): “I know nothing about this song other than it’s by two of my favorite artists and I have listened to it about 400 times and just love the syncopation of the piano and guitar.”
"Start a War" (Track 3): “You can’t pick just one song by the National. They create beautiful, throbbing, operas that are somewhere between Joy Division and Leonard Cohen. His voice haunts me. Listen to this song while on a road trip and you will merge with the landscape.”
"Kids" (Track 4): “These guys can write a melody that seeps into your bones. Is that a Casio keyboard?”
"You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" (Track 5): “My 3 and a half year old son’s favorite song. He calls it the ‘down into the easy chair’ song. That misfit duo from
"Love Comes to Me" (Track 6): “Will Oldham. This is guy is weird and an actor (
"Soldier's Grin" (Track 7): “They’re drunk and from Montreal and friends with Arcade Fire. There were no actual wolves or parades involved in the making of this album.”
"Crosses" (Track 8): “I heard this song on a compilation they had at the Soho Hotel in London and fell in love with it. ‘Cause that’s how I roll. Anyone know who this guy is?”
"In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" (Track 9): “Ok, this is the only defunct band on here. And this song is like 8 or 10 years old but I just had to include this surreal Southern collective that made two perfect albums and disappeared back into the kudzu.”
"Freeway" (Track 10): “Digging her new album. Very literate and sexy. ‘You’ve got a lot of money but you can’t afford the freeway.’ I don’t know what that means exactly. Can someone explain?”
"Sultan" (Track 11): “I met these guys at the Sasquatch music festival. They’re hipsters from Austin and yet aren’t afraid to do Billy Joel covers. Catchy fun. Love his voice.”
"My Love for You Is Real" (Track 12): “I struggle to play this one on my guitar. Ryan writes great love songs which he plays to the likes of Parker Posey and Mandy Moore and gets them all dewey and doe-eyed. Then they smoke cigarettes and talk about Cindy Sherman and order Thai. I made that last part up.”
"The Commander Thinks Aloud" (Track 13): “This is a song about the space shuttle Challenger disaster. For a gruesome song about death it sure is uplifting and magical. ‘Boys and girls in cars/dogs and birds on lawns/ from here I can touch the sun.’ Gorgeous.”
"Down" (Track 14): “I gotta put something from my movie on here. This great ADD smash was written by two buddies of mine, Ferraby Lionheart and Chris Faizi.”

Download Rainn Wilson’s Playlist from iTunes

	Song	Album	Artist
1	To the Dogs or Whoever	The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter	Josh Ritter
2	Let the Distance Keep Us Together	Home, Vol. 4 – Single	Bright Eyes, Britt Daniel & Spoon
3	Start a War	Boxer	The National
4	Kids	Oracular Spectacular	MGMT
5	You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere	I’m Not There (Original Soundtrack) [Bonus Track Version]	Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova
6	Love Comes to Me	The Letting Go	Bonnie “Prince” Billy
7	Soldier’s Grin	At Mount Zoomer	Wolf Parade
8	Crosses	Veneer	Jose Gonzalez
9	In the Aeroplane Over the Sea	In the Aeroplane Over the Sea	Neutral Milk Hotel
10	Freeway	@#%&*! Smilers (Deluxe Version)	Aimee Mann
11	Sultan	What Doesn’t Kill Us	What Made Milwaukee Famous
12	My Love for You Is Real	Follow the Lights	Ryan Adams
13	The Commander Thinks Aloud	Ultimatum	The Long Winters
14	Down	The Rocker (Music from the Motion Picture)	Teddy Geiger