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Greg Morton loves an audience. In fact, his livelihood depends on it.
For more than 55 years, this South Dartmouth resident has crafted a dynamic career by bringing enjoyment to others. As a chef, a musician, a booking agent, and a voiceover artist, Morton is making consistent cultural contributions to Southeastern New England and beyond. Whether he’s preparing food for a group of 200, bringing top-notch talent to the Zeiterion Performing Arts Center, taking to area stages, or narrating for radio, books and films, this 75-year-old’s life remains vibrant and varied.
He’s busy, but he’s not complaining.
Today, “Earthquake” Morton is the head chef at Morton’s Fork Catering in the South End of New Bedford. For nearly 20 years he has been a booking agent at the Zeiterion, and for much of the 1970s he was the bassist and background vocalist for the Boston-based R&B party band, Duke & The Drivers. With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, he has experienced a significant increase in his work as a professional voiceover artist, contributing his vocal talents to a bevy of projects, for audiences both regional and global.
Growing up in Loudonville, New York, near Albany, Morton was inspired to prepare food early on thanks to the culinary interests of his parents. This upbringing paid off as he would eventually move to the South Coast in 1982 to become the chef and co-owner of the Bridge Street Café in Padanaram with his wife, Sally Myers. During that time he would begin doing catering work out of the cafe, a job he was able to expand into Morton’s Fork soon after he closed the restaurant in 2000.
In 2005, Morton joined the Zeiterion as a booking agent, a role he has maintained to this day. Soon after he joined the organization he was tapped to use his remarkable voice to do promotional radio spots for the Z. In recent years, Morton has taken advantage of this talent to do voiceovers and narration for projects ranging from films to audio books, in addition to an abundance of radio ads.
During his time at the Zeiterion, Morton has also prepared meals for many of the performers who appear there. Today, Morton is preparing three or more meals a week for his catering company and his voiceover work is growing consistently. And although the Zeiterion is undergoing renovations that will have it idle for approximately another year, Morton is still booking “off campus” shows for the theater and promoting them on radio.
Morton recently constructed a recording studio in his home to do his voiceover duties and has procured an agent and a vocal coach to assist him in these endeavors. He has recently done projects that include a “Tree Talk” tour video for Handy House Heritage Trail in Westport and a walking tour for the Head of Westport. He has done voiceovers for two short films by filmmaker and UMass Dartmouth Professor Emeritus Harvey Goldman — “Entropy of Truth” and “Each Is Another.” They were joined on “Each Is Another” by UMD Music Professor Jing Wang. The film is being shown in the U.S., Europe and South America.
Morton’s vocal work has also been on display at the New Bedford Whaling Museum. In 2020, he narrated the audio book, “Once A Rocker, Always A Rocker,” a memoir by Mach Bell about his time as the vocalist in the Joe Perry Project.
“Greg’s voice is rich, full-bodied and warm,” Goldman says. “He evokes a wide range of feelings and emotional depth. The first piece went so well that I wanted to use him a second time. I told him that if I couldn’t get Leonard Cohen (to narrate the films) he’d be my second pick. He’s a great person to collaborate with. He’s really interested in giving and listening.”
“There’s a reason Greg has been with the Z for almost 20 years,” says Rosemary Gill, president and CEO of the Zeiterion. “As one of our talent bookers, our resident chef, and our voice artist, he’s got a lot to offer. If you’ve been to a show, you’ve heard his rich bass-toned voice welcome the audience. His tone is unmistakable. There’s a reason we call him ‘The voice of The Z!’”
Morton talked with The Light about his lengthy career in the food industry, his growing number of voiceover gigs, his experiences with the Zeiterion, hearing his song on the radio, being able to go to work in his pajamas and having “no regrets” about being in the music industry in the 1970s.
New Bedford Light: How did you get into the voiceover industry?
Greg Morton: It was an offshoot of two things. One was going through life for many years with people telling me what a great voice I have. And second, [during] COVID was when I really put time in because there was nothing else to do. So I built a little studio in one of the rooms in our house and started reaching out more and went to this outfit out of Los Angeles called SOVAS (Society of Voice Arts and Sciences).
I thought I would definitely need a voice coach so I went to a friend who works for William Morris, who I work with at the Zeiterion, and he recommended as a manager this gentleman Marc Guss, who is arguably the biggest and best voiceover manager in the country. I met him at this convention for SOVAS out in L.A. before COVID, and I said, “What should I do about getting a voice coach?” He said the only person to do that is Joan Baker. So I went to Joan and we hit it off really well and she started teaching me, and her friend Pat Frehley gave me some lessons and so it started and it seemed to come very naturally. Everyone liked what I was doing and it’s gone from there.
I’ve been doing radio spots for 15 years. It’s really fun to do a Willie Nelson spot or an Etta James spot — all these people who are so near and dear to me musically, to be able to actually have that on the airwaves plugging a show that I was part of booking at the Zeiterion.
The first spot I ever did was for WBCN in 1976 when Duke & The Drivers were playing at a club on the South Shore called Uncle Sam’s. It was the first time I was on a high profile station doing a voiceover. And then that kind of morphed when I got into the Dartmouth area. We were able to do work for the Z promoting upcoming shows. I did a lot of spots for COOL 102, the Cape-based radio station, promoting artists that were coming to the Z. The more I did the more there were. It’s moved gradually over the last six or seven years.
NBL: How long does it take to complete a voiceover project?
GM: It’s usually quick. If I have the copy to read I stick it up in my studio on my mic and I’ll read through it a couple of times and then cut it. If it’s a 30-second spot it takes a few minutes, and then if it’s a narrative, like a novel, that takes some hours. But I pre-sectioned it and so I did it over a 10-day period.
There’s no set equation. Sometimes I’ll go through them in one take and send it in, and it doesn’t take any time at all. Other times it takes more refinement and time but it’s not like doing 9-to-5 five days a week to get a job done.
How much I work depends on when the phone rings really. There was a time when I was driving to Maine and somebody called and needed a spot. I had a little mic and a car is a perfect place to record, particularly one that has good insulation. So I just clipped the mic on my visor and recorded the spot on my phone while in the car, and sent it.
When people need something they usually need it fast. So I always have a recording setup with me other than my home studio. It certainly works, but there’s no rhyme or reason or equation to much of this.
The work I’m getting right now are people who know me, previous people I’ve worked with or people like Harvey (Goldman) who cold called me and said, “Man, you’ve got the best voice. I’m doing this project and you’ve got to narrate it.”
So it depends. With the Z, we’re down for another year so there won’t be a lot of work there, but there’s still other jobs where we’re doing shows off campus and I do the intros for those. It’s been very straightforward with that. They just send me the copy and I do it. I like that I can do this job in my pajamas.
NBL: At what age did you realize you have an incredible voice?
GM: The first recognition of my voice was when I played Mr. Bumble in “Oliver Twist” in the sixth grade at Harvey School in Katonah, New York. I did the line “More?! You want more?!” And the audience went nuts. There were all these kids with their voices just having changed, then I came in like Pavarotti.
NBL: Do you have any people that you emulate? Are there rock stars of the voiceover world?
GM: There absolutely are. James Earl Jones, God bless him, was by far the most prolific and famous voiceover person to me. Just remarkable. Mel Blanc, who did Bugs Bunny is another.
NBL: How did you get into the culinary world?
GM: Having a mother and father who loved food and loved to do it, and both of them having two separate food paths. My mother was a great baker, vegetables, salads, casseroles, and my father was a great grill guy. So the two of them did very well. And I was always watching Julia Child when I was 10 years old with my mother. I’ve always been fascinated by it.
I was making donuts at 11 years old, which is tricky at any age. But my mother was really great. She never discouraged me. She was big on prepping everything the night before, which I don’t do enough of. If you want to make muffins you have to have all the ingredients done and then your wet ingredients measured and then boom, boom, boom. So I think my upbringing was so culinarily informed. Going up to Maine [to vacation] we had a whole different food option with the lobster and the fish, and that was another angle.
Then I lived with my mother in Florida after my dad passed, and she and I would cook all the time. It’s different down there, so it’s always been part of my life. And then after I finished high school I went to Boston University for a brief time, then moved to Kentucky and worked on a magazine down there, came back to Boston but didn’t go back to school and started doing the band thing.
When we stopped playing I went out on the road with Jonathan Edwards and worked with him for a couple of years, and then after that my friend from the band, Tom Swift, suggested we take this coffee shop in Padanaram and make a restaurant out of it. I thought that was a better idea than being out on the road — moving there and getting out of my situation in Lexington was a good thing. So my then-girlfriend and wife-to-be, Sally, we moved up there and started the restaurant and that went on for almost 20 years.
What really helped us was getting a good review early on from Laurie Sharp of The Standard-Times. It got us on the map in a hurry. We were not as prepared as we should have been but that’s the way it happened.
NBL: Because you’re a chef, do you think you approach food differently than the average person?
GM: I sure as hell hope so. There are a lot of similarities — some people do it well and some people don’t. I happen to love to cook and I love to take care of the clients. For the most part they don’t know who you are. Every event is a different feel — getting to know the client, what they want and communicating. With most weddings we do there’s a tasting and that really helps and they get very comfortable. It’s so much about the client and making them happy. The food is to me, at this point, not a problem. I’m going to get it right. But having the relationship and the communication is really important and I’ve got an excellent woman who helps coordinate that and it goes really well.
Nonprofits are what I really love to do, and I don’t do it because I’m a nice guy, but it’s a good little niche for me. I like supporting local nonprofits. I’ve been working for one for 17 years at the Z, and I did all the backstage and catering up until now and that will probably continue.
I’ve done nonprofits such as the New Bedford Art Museum, a lot at the Whaling Museum, and the New Bedford Economic Development Council, which had their annual meeting of 200. I recently did a couple of beautiful weddings, barbecues, clambakes, and Paella, which I really love. The live cooking is something I always really enjoy.
NBL: So sometimes you cook on site?
GM: I’ll take all the ingredients and put them all in Ziploc bags. I prep them here (at Morton’s Fork), put them in bags in a cooler, bring my big pan and create the dish.
It’s all different — it depends on how the chips fall. Of course in winter there’s not that much outdoor stuff. During the summer, if I’m doing a wedding, I have certain things I like to do. My specialties are Paella, barbecue, and I’ll do a clambake if people want it. I do everything.
I’ve done buffets with tenderloin and grilled fish. Having had Bridge Street Café I’ve made myself available to do most anything that anyone wants. I don’t have a lot of pre-made things. I talk to the client, see what they’re doing, see what their predilection is and then go from there.
One of the things that has changed a lot in my tenure in the last 30 years is the dietary situation. With an upcoming show by Post Modern Jukebox they have six different menus. They’ve got vegan, vegetarian, lactose intolerant, they’ve got gluten-free. There’s so many different things now that are part of doing this. We’re always very careful to be able to suit the people with different needs.
NBL: You’ve prepared food for many of the people who have performed at the Zeiterion. What have you learned about performers and stars having worked with them in that capacity?
GM: Let me put it this way: What’s really important for people who are on the road is wherever they’re going they can get some good food. Left to the local restaurants where they can go out and eat, they don’t really want that. They want some food cooked [on-site].
For them to be wowed over the food is really great, so that’s the goal. I was doing a rider (a set of requests by a performer) this morning for Post Modern Juke Box and there’s a vegan, there’s two vegetarians and others. It’s become very challenging to prepare food due to the amount of allergies there are for people who are on the road, so it adds another layer. For them it was 20 people including food allergies, so for one group you’re preparing five menus. We’re always looking forward to a challenge.
NBL: When was the first time you heard one of your songs on the radio?
GM: The very first time was when Duke & The Drivers in 1973 had a song played on WBCN in Boston, “Check Your Bucket.” I was listening in my car in the afternoon. That was such a thrill, and then calling everyone and saying, “They played it! They played it!”
WBCN was really the anchor for us as far as radio was concerned. They were a really remarkable station and so supportive of local artists. And we didn’t have a record deal, we didn’t have anything that you could go to the store and buy, which was ultimately to our detriment. I wish we had had “Check Your Bucket” done and available. Everyone really got off on it and we ended up doing a lot of shows around WBCN. We opened for Bruce Springsteen out on Long Island, Aerosmith three or four times. We opened for the J. Geils Band. We had a lot of support.
NBL: How do you reflect on being in a popular party band in the 1970s?
GM: First of all, I don’t reflect with any regret. It was a miracle for me personally. I had the patience of my friend Joe who taught me the rudimentary things about playing the bass guitar. I was 21 when I learned how to play bass. I learned to play the tunes that we played. I can jam a little bit. It’s not like learning scales and reading music, but I can certainly get a groove on. I have the ability to do that.
When you’re 75 and you look back on that stuff, you never know when it is when you won’t be around anymore, and that’s OK. I’m healthy with that. I have no regrets for anything I’ve done. I’ve had a life of gratitude and support and I don’t think there’s anything I would have done differently. It was a blast, particularly because I know that nobody got hurt. It was amazing.
NBL: As a programming manager at the Zeiterion how do you find the acts to perform? What is the booking process like?
GM: If you’re looking for a group or an artist they’re usually represented by a manager and that manager and the artist have an agent. The agents are like agents in baseball or anywhere else that put together deals. With that being said, many of the artists that we book are on tour. They decide on a period of time and go out on the road and play four nights a week, some play six, some play three.
On the big scale, it’s someone like Taylor [Swift] or Springsteen or that sort, but the equation is pretty much the same for any artist who wants to play out. And playing out has become important to artists because with the advent of Spotify and Sirius, and not that much radio play, the only way that people are going to be able to hear the group – and more importantly for the group, to buy records or merchandise or do any of that — is by having the artist play live.
We have a relationship with agents literally all over the world and they represent artists from all over the world, and they know that we are a viable theater on the circuit that holds 1,200 to 1,300 people. We reach out to them and see who’s on tour. They send emails to us with the touring schedules of all the artists that they handle and when we can make the right deal and their routing works, we get an artist in.
There are artists who seek out venues. We’ve had a number of artists who like coming to New Bedford and who like playing the Z. That says a lot, not only for the Z, but for what’s going on in New Bedford right now. It’s a great place. These artists will do a sound check and go to the Whaling Museum, they’ll eat in the restaurants, they’ll participate in what New Bedford has to offer. Not only by playing the Z, but by being here.
NBL: How are things going during the renovations at the Zeiterion?
GM: The Z is going through an amazingly exciting phase right now. The entire staff is engaged. We’re really going to have the ability to do so much more in such a beautiful space that it’s absolutely thrilling. Rosemary and the other staff that I am with are just remarkable. I’ve seen pictures of it and it looks phenomenal.
We’re going to have a blockbuster season that will start at the end of 2025, if all things are equal, but it might be the beginning of 2026. There’s going to be new places to gig. … We’re getting a lot of calls from people who want to be included in that first season. It’s very exciting to be working on that as it is for all the staff.
NBL: What are the commonalities of Morton’s Fork Catering, the Zeiterion, Duke & The Drivers, and doing voiceover work?
GM: There’s an audience. The catering is obviously the client and the guests. The audience for the voiceovers at the Z are the patrons of the theater. For the restaurant the people are coming in to buy the food. So it has a lot to do with personality, I believe. Being able to have the proper personality to be able to handle the audiences and that has always been pretty natural to me.
The voiceover is more interesting because you don’t necessarily know who the audience is, but you know they like your voice, so there’s an instant relationship there that’s different from the other two.
For me, it’s all based on communication. I have the ability to communicate with people who want food prepared because that’s been my life for so long. I was given a beautiful voice that I can record, which is another way of communicating. Being able to sing a little bit with Duke & The Drivers and to play in a musical band, and being able to have relationships with the people who walked in the door and being able to do something that makes people happy. They all intersect because they’re things that I like to do and the way to do that is to be honest and communicate and figure out what people need. That’s something that’s very natural to me.
Sean McCarthy is a freelance writer and frequent contributor to The New Bedford Light.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
