diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
index 5e2d216..030d1bd 100644
--- a/.env.example
+++ b/.env.example
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 FATHOM_DEBUG=true
-FATHOM_DATABASE_URL=""
 FATHOM_DATABASE_DRIVER="sqlite3"
 FATHOM_DATABASE_NAME="./fathom.db"
 FATHOM_DATABASE_USER=""
diff --git a/pkg/config/config.go b/pkg/config/config.go
index 9f18f5c..27de0f2 100644
--- a/pkg/config/config.go
+++ b/pkg/config/config.go
@@ -2,9 +2,9 @@ package config
 
 import (
 	"math/rand"
+	"net/url"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
-	"net/url"
 
 	"github.com/joho/godotenv"
 	"github.com/kelseyhightower/envconfig"
@@ -54,11 +54,10 @@ func Parse() *Config {
 	}
 
 	if cfg.Database.URL != "" {
-		u, err := url.Parse(cfg.Database.URL)
+		_, err := url.Parse(cfg.Database.URL)
 		if err != nil {
 			log.Fatalf("Error parsing DATABASE_URL from environment: %s", err)
 		}
-		cfg.Database.Driver = u.Scheme
 	}
 
 	// alias sqlite to sqlite3
diff --git a/pkg/datastore/sqlstore/config.go b/pkg/datastore/sqlstore/config.go
index 3ad375d..93177c2 100644
--- a/pkg/datastore/sqlstore/config.go
+++ b/pkg/datastore/sqlstore/config.go
@@ -18,28 +18,32 @@ type Config struct {
 func (c *Config) DSN() string {
 	var dsn string
 
+	// if FATHOM_DATABASE_URL was set, use that
+	// this relies on the user to set the appropriate parameters, eg ?parseTime=true when using MySQL
+	if c.URL != "" {
+		return c.URL
+	}
+
+	// otherwise, generate from individual fields
 	switch c.Driver {
 	case "postgres":
-		if c.URL != "" {
-			dsn = c.URL
-		} else {
-			params := map[string]string{
-				"host":     c.Host,
-				"dbname":   c.Name,
-				"user":     c.User,
-				"password": c.Password,
-				"sslmode":  c.SSLMode,
-			}
-
-			for k, v := range params {
-				if v == "" {
-					continue
-				}
-
-				dsn = dsn + k + "=" + v + " "
-			}
-			dsn = strings.TrimSpace(dsn)
+		params := map[string]string{
+			"host":     c.Host,
+			"dbname":   c.Name,
+			"user":     c.User,
+			"password": c.Password,
+			"sslmode":  c.SSLMode,
 		}
+
+		for k, v := range params {
+			if v == "" {
+				continue
+			}
+
+			dsn = dsn + k + "=" + v + " "
+		}
+
+		dsn = strings.TrimSpace(dsn)
 	case "mysql":
 		mc := mysql.NewConfig()
 		mc.User = c.User