Melissa Etheridge Explains How Johnny Cash Inspired Her to Perform in Prisons: 'I Wasn't Afraid' (Exclusive)

Melissa Etheridge performs in a prison in her native Kansas in the docuseries 'Melissa Etheridge: I'm Not Broken'

Melissa Etheridge still remembers the electricity in the air when country legend Johnny Cash paid her Kansas hometown a visit in 1970 to perform at the local prison.

“No one in Kansas City saw him. I thought, ‘Wow, prisons must be a place of fine entertainment,’” Etheridge, who was around 9 at the time, tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. “And this is a goal. I would like to be that someday.”

Over the years, Etheridge, 63, accomplished that goal, playing at various penitentiaries near her native Leavenworth. The performances had a “big impact” on her, she says — but few as impactful as her recent concert at the Topkea Correctional Facility, which she filmed as part of the new Paramount+ docuseries Melissa Etheridge: I’m Not Broken (streaming now).

“I wasn’t afraid of prisons or of what was going on in there. And so I always knew that I wanted to get back and do that sort of Johnny Cash thing, the performance for people that really need it, who probably haven’t had entertainment in months, years, decades, and just how healing that can be,” she says. “I had no idea what it would be like, and it was really beyond what I thought.”

Related: Melissa Etheridge Shares the Secret to Her Marriage Success, Jokes Having the Same Birthday as Her Wife 'Helps' (Exclusive)

Cash, of course, was known for his prison concerts, and performed in Leavenworth for 1,200 people, meeting with prisoners and signing autographs after the show, according to KC Yesterday. He famously released his live album, At Folsom Prison, in 1968, inspired by his song "Folsom Prison Blues."

Etheridge's docuseries follows the Grammy winner as she prepares for and eventually performs at the prison for a thrilled crowd of inmates. Viewers also see extensive interviews with several women at the facility, many of whom established a relationship with Etheridge via letter writing prior to the concert.

In an emotional scene, Etheridge even performs an original song that she wrote in honor of the women, which features the powerful call and response lyric, “I’m not broken.”

Related: Melissa Etheridge Says She Wants to 'Lift People Up' in Trailer for New Prison Concert Docuseries

“The whole prison was not what I expected. I left very hopeful because of the people running it and how they feel about the women that were there. The minute they walk through the door, they’re working to help them get back into society,” she says. “It was such a great experience, and I learned so much. I can’t wait for the world to see it.”

The rocker says she had “no idea what to expect” when it came to the performance and was nearly overwhelmed when the warden told her she could play whatever she wanted for as long as she wanted.

But the rollicking show went off without a hitch, and Etheridge says she hopes viewers will walk away from the docuseries with a newfound understanding that “people can change and grow."

For more on Melissa Etheridge, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands this week.

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.