Gates Piano Company is on the corner of an otherwise empty row of storefronts along Issaquena Avenue, the main street of the historic New World District in Clarksdale. There was a time when the sidewalks of Issaquena spilled over with wide-eyed country folks taking in the sights and sounds of a bustling cultural district filled with the newest fashions, automobiles and recorded music. “If you came to Clarksdale and didn’t hit Issaquena,” said Mr. Gates, who was born in 1921, “you haven’t been in the house.” Mr. Gates started up his piano repair shop in the early 1970s and would come in at night after working as a teacher at the public school and spending time with his family. “I felt like an iron man,” said Mr. Gates. “Never really got so tired because the piano business seem like a hobby to me. Something I just like to do. I would almost do it now free of charge because I just like it that well.”