The Who’s Pete Townshend has released his first single in 29 years, titled “Can’t Outrun the Truth.”

The charity single has been released to raise money for Teenage Cancer Trust, with all proceeds from vinyl sales and an undisclosed portion of digital downloads going towards the charity.

In a press statement for the new single, Townshend said, “The pandemic years were terrible for charities; the Teenage Cancer Trust was created in order to take the money from a series of concerts at the Albert Hall every year and various other things and that had all dropped out.”

He continued, “So, the idea of doing this, which is it’s something that has sprung out of Lockdown about mental illness, but also for this particular charity. If you’ve got a scenario in which somebody in your family or a teenager has got cancer, they’re being treated, Lockdown hits, and you’re not allowed to go and visit them. There’s a poignancy to the whole thing about the song.”

The track was composed and produced by Townshend’s partner, Rachel Fuller.

Speaking on how the track came to be created, Fuller said, “We’d just moved house and Pete was as happy as Larry up in his studio, working every day, and I put my back out, I was just climbing the walls, I couldn’t do any creative work and obviously, we couldn’t go anywhere, and I really started to think about how unbelievably difficult this period of time was going to be for so many people. I wrote lyrics and then I sat at the piano and wrote the music, and then I thought, ‘Oh, I really would like to record it, because it’s really not a bad song at all’ — and my singing days are long over. So, I asked Pete to record the demo.”

On working with his partner Rachel, Townshend said, “I’ve helped Rachel make the demos for several of her theatrical projects. She’s a really a fast worker. It’s not that you say to me, ‘Let’s go into the studio for two weeks and work on this project.’ We do it two hours later, or an hour later, it’s done — so it’s easy to work with her.”

“Can’t Outrun the Truth” was recorded in Townshend’s home studio in September 2021. Townshend sings on the track as well as playing violin and lap steel guitar on it for his first solo effort in almost 30 years.

Read more about Teenage Cancer Trust’s incredible fundraising efforts here.

Stream “Can’t Outrun the Truth” here.