diff --git a/doc/whats-new.rst b/doc/whats-new.rst
index c05fb9cd555..09ffbb557f5 100644
--- a/doc/whats-new.rst
+++ b/doc/whats-new.rst
@@ -97,6 +97,8 @@ New Features
 - Allow removal of the coordinate attribute ``coordinates`` on variables by setting ``.attrs['coordinates']= None``
   (:issue:`5510`).
   By `Elle Smith <https://github.com/ellesmith88>`_.
+- Added ``**kwargs`` argument to :py:meth:`open_rasterio` to access overviews (:issue:`3269`).
+  By `Pushkar Kopparla <https://github.com/pkopparla>`_.
 - Added :py:meth:`DataArray.to_numpy`, :py:meth:`DataArray.as_numpy`, and :py:meth:`Dataset.as_numpy`. (:pull:`5568`).
   By `Tom Nicholas <https://github.com/TomNicholas>`_.
 - Units in plot labels are now automatically inferred from wrapped :py:meth:`pint.Quantity` arrays. (:pull:`5561`).
diff --git a/xarray/backends/rasterio_.py b/xarray/backends/rasterio_.py
index 49a5a9ec7ae..1891fac8668 100644
--- a/xarray/backends/rasterio_.py
+++ b/xarray/backends/rasterio_.py
@@ -162,7 +162,14 @@ def default(s):
     return parsed_meta
 
 
-def open_rasterio(filename, parse_coordinates=None, chunks=None, cache=None, lock=None):
+def open_rasterio(
+    filename,
+    parse_coordinates=None,
+    chunks=None,
+    cache=None,
+    lock=None,
+    **kwargs,
+):
     """Open a file with rasterio (experimental).
 
     This should work with any file that rasterio can open (most often:
@@ -272,7 +279,13 @@ def open_rasterio(filename, parse_coordinates=None, chunks=None, cache=None, loc
     if lock is None:
         lock = RASTERIO_LOCK
 
-    manager = CachingFileManager(rasterio.open, filename, lock=lock, mode="r")
+    manager = CachingFileManager(
+        rasterio.open,
+        filename,
+        lock=lock,
+        mode="r",
+        kwargs=kwargs,
+    )
     riods = manager.acquire()
     if vrt_params is not None:
         riods = WarpedVRT(riods, **vrt_params)